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June 22, 2008

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Thursday in New York calling for an end to the ongoing violence against women as a war tactic.

The resolution, which passed unanimously, called for greater protections for women and demanded aggressors around the world end practices of using violence against women during war, the United Nations reported.

Officials say when women are targeted during conflicts as a tactic to humiliate and instill fear, the conflict deepens and exacerbates fragile security and humanitarian conditions.

The resolution says perpetrators of sexual violence in war should be excluded from amnesty. Additionally, the resolution calls for new measures to be taken to train troops in military humanitarian conduct and to increase protections for women and girls.

"When women and girls are raped, we cannot be silent. ... We must be their advocates," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement at the opening of the meeting. source